Defra and the government gave out continuous negligent mis-statements to the public as to what was going on in the countryside

Stephen Alexander, Class Law

Forty-one farmers across the UK have already received more than �1m each in compensation out of an expected �1.4bn payout by the end of the year.

But government figures show thousands of workers have been forced out of the farming industry over the past few crisis-hit years.

Forecasts released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show farm incomes are still 71% below 1995 levels.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) says the situation is worse than those figures suggest, with arable, beef, sheep and pigs in a dire state, despite gains in the dairy and horticulture sectors.

Landmark case

Nearly 100 representatives gathered for the first of a series of UKRBC meetings in badly-hit areas on Thursday.

The organisation estimates �5.1bn has been lost to rural businesses in England and Wales since the epidemic began in February.

Measures to stop the disease have been intensive

Stephen Alexander, from the group's solicitors Class Law, believes legal action will also grant the country a public inquiry.

He called on everyone whose livelihoods had been devastated to join in the landmark case.

He said they would be invoking Human Rights legislation as well as collating evidence to prove that the government acted negligently and breached its statutory duty.

The group will collect statements from rural business people, of which about 10 will be put forward as test cases early next year.

Industry at 'rock bottom'

The UKRBC's members range from the 6,000-strong National Foot-and-Mouth Campaign, to members of tourist and associated industries.

Chairman Ian Mitchell said: "Discussions with ministers have produced nothing.

"Legal action is now the only way to get justice for thousands of rural businesses."

We must hope against hope that this tide of job losses will now be stemmed

Ben Gill, NFU

The UKRBC and Class Law will present their case to MPs at parliament on Monday.

The Defra figures, released on Thursday, estimate the UK Total Income From Farming (TIFF) for 2001 is �1.8bn, compared with more than �5bn in 1996.

The NFU said it must also be taken into account that Defra had revised downwards the original TIFF figure of �1.8bn given for 2000 to �1.57bn.

NFU President Ben Gill said: "The industry had hit rock bottom - so the only way has been up.

Region downgraded

"Given that foot-and-mouth and the poor harvest severely damaged farmers' earnings, these figures show that only the cost cutting and efficiency gains farmers have made have enabled them to hold their ground."

Separate figures released by Defra showed a further 7,800 farmers and farm workers lost their jobs in the year to June 2001 in England.

This means that the recession has claimed nearly 64,000 jobs in England since 1997.

The last remaining area in Britain classified as "infected" with foot-and-mouth - a region south of Penrith in Cumbria - has been downgraded.

In nine months of the crisis there were 2,030 cases across the UK resulting in the slaughter of 3,958,000 animals.